Florentine Cemetary and Cross Processing

These are two of my favourite's together! Cross procesing and Italian cemetaries. Two important things to consider when cross processing (turning a positive film into a negative) is the choice of film and the exposure. Every film will give you different results so it is best to test different ones to see which colour effect you like the best. I find most of the time over exposing the shot by one stop is a better result than correctly exposing i, for me the results look under exposed. Two stops over can be interesting and it is always worth bracketing a couple of different exposures. The other trick is in the printing. You need to tell your lab when developing that you want your film cross processed otherwise it will just be a badly exposed positive film. I love Sky Photographic in Florence http://www.skyphotographic.it/ or Platinum imaging in Sydney http://www.platinumimaging.com.au/. Negatif Plus in Paris is ok but not quite as dramatic as these two labs and I go to the effort to send mine from Paris to Italy to get the printed image I am after.

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Italian Joy

It has been almost four years since my first book Italian Joy was published. I have received many beautiful letters from people from many different countries who have experienced dissatisfaction with their lives and yearn to escape. Tomorrow I am leaving for Venice: I feel the same thrill and excitement as I pack my bags that I felt the very first time I arrived in Italy almost twenty years ago... I can't wait. I know it is high season in Venice and it will bursting at the seams with visitors but when the lights go down and the day trippers go home Venice will turn on her magic and I will be in love again.

In all the letters I have received there is a common thread of questions, mostly about becoming a photographer. Many people ask how to switch careers and countries, my advice always is not to be in a hurry (if you can bare it)! Plan as much ahead as you can, save as much money as possible, start learning the language immediately and investigate the possibilites of working with magazines in the country of your dreams and your own country. One of the biggest challenges will be financial even though there are many, I managed to work part time in a photographic studio in Florence for a while and organised with a friend of mine to send beautiful Italian clothes back to Australia to survive. If it is photography you are interested in, get together a portfolio of the pictures you love, target magazines that you think will be interested in your work and approach them before leaving to go overseas. Start building contacts as soon as you are happy with your portfolio. One of the best ways to start getting the valuable 'tear sheets' that will give you credibility with magazines is to create your own photographic stories and pitch it to magazines. It can be about anything but study the magazines and see which one would be appropriate for the kind of photos you like to take. Remember take photos that you love and all the rest should follow...

Paolo versus Peter (Roversi versus Lindbergh)

I had the great fortune to be working in Provence this week and managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Arles for the Rencontres des Arles, the big French photo festival. Christian Lacroix was born in Arles and hosted this years festival, it had a fab fashion slant. The giants were there, and on a beautiful night in the ancient Roman theatre Paolo Roversi and Peter Lindbergh bantered about the differences in the way they work. Paolo, the master of the simple, the 'artisan of photography with his simple collection of chairs, backdrops and lights and big polaroid camera on a tripod works almost exclusively in his studio creating dream like fashion. Peter, is the master of the decor, the big cinema styled photo shoots shot on site at Cinecitta, Paramount studios, wtih cinema styling lighting and a 35 mm camera to capture th action. I didn't learn any great intimate secrets about these two but it was enough to hear their voices and feast my eyes open them and their work after loving them from afar for so many years..

Inspired by Avedon and Leibowitz

These portraits of the lovely Francesca were inspired by the great portrait photographers show's I saw yesterday in Paris, the fab Annie Leibowitz and the elegant Mr. Richard Avedon.These two are the masters of the simple and pared down portrait with the focus on the subject. I am so use to doing portraits in chaotic situations on location surrounded by people and literally grabbing the shot I decided it would be fun to create a couple of studio portraits of my own. Using a simple black background and a direct flash with a grid angled left of camera from high above powered down to 1/4 and a second highlight flash behind the lovely Francesco powered down to 1/64 these are the results. There is something to be said for the calm of working in your own space... thanks for the inspiration.

Richard Avedon at the Jeu De Paume

On a rainy summer's day in Paris I excitedly joined the queue at the Jeu de Paume to see the much awaited Richard Avedon Retrospective. The first ever Avedon retrospective in Paris, is a feast of portraiture in the clean minimalist elegant style of Avedon. Though Avedon shot almost all the big names in business, politics and the arts my favourite photos were the series shot in the Amercian West of real people, shop assistants and mine workers, the homeless and black jack dealers. These large black and white prints, some mounted on light boxes are mesmerizing, the souls of these people stare straight at you.. A must if you are in Paris. http://www.jeudepaume.org/?page=article&idArt=539&lieu=1&PHPSESSID=f07afaabedf542f8e9364e5196dcc90b